Ibram X. Kendi is a professor of international relations in the School of International Service and a professor of history at the College of Arts and Sciences at American University. He is the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Michael Kazin is a professor of history at Georgetown University and the editor of Dissent.

They were interviewed by the History News Network's Rick Shenkman on January 5, 2018 at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association.